DeLay: More CashAnd More Questions

Faced with mounting lawyers' bills to fend off ethics complaints and a grand-jury probe in Texas, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is increasing efforts to raise money for his legal-defense fund. But DeLay, who has raked in more than $400,000 for the fund since last July, could face new questions over how he's raised the cash in the past. A study to be released this week by Public Citizen, a watchdog group frequently critical of DeLay, finds the Texas congressman has received seven checks for the defense fund totaling $9,500 from lobbyists or members of law firms registered to lobby the Congress. House rules in effect since 1996 prohibit members from accepting contributions for legal-defense funds from lobbyists. 'It's a clear-cut violation of House rules,' says Conor Kenny of Public Citizen.